No comment? No way.
By Bruce Gordon
2018 - Gordon reporting from Bill Cosby trial, Norristown, PA, one of many high profile cases he’s covered.
Enter a criminal courtroom during a trial and you’ll no doubt hear both the judge and defense attorney remind jurors that the defendant is under no obligation to testify, and that they should not hold that decision against him or her. In fact, being chosen as a juror in the first place depends, among other things, on guaranteeing that you would not view negatively the defendant’s decision to remain silent.
I covered hundreds of trials in forty years as a reporter, and live testimony from the defendant was the exception rather than the rule. But in almost every case, I wondered to myself what jurors thought of the fact that a person whose freedom - perhaps even their life - was on the line, yet decided not to tell their side of the story. Human nature tells me jurors held a sub-conscious bias against the defendant for making that decision.
It’s no different in the court of public opinion.
How many times have you seen or read a news account featuring allegations against a person, organization or company and rolled your eyes when you learned the accused had “no comment”? It’s natural to believe that anyone with a reasonable story to tell would want to make sure that story was heard, as opposed to silently suffering the damage done by unfair criticism.
I’ve seen plenty of examples of allegations so airtight that the accused likely had nothing to gain by trying to explain them away. But I’ve also seen - and reported on - lots of stories where the accused seemed to have a plausible defense, yet chose not to make it.
In my training sessions, I explain how the reporting process works, the mathematical calculation involved in your decision to respond (yes, it can be an actual calculation) and the best format in which to get your message across. While my sessions do not involve crisis management per se, they will give you a framework for deciding how and if you should respond when an allegation or criticism comes your way.
Simply put, “no comment” is rarely the best response.
